


Café O-kay

by Hubris_BNL



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Fluff, M/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 03:48:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10631544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hubris_BNL/pseuds/Hubris_BNL
Summary: When John gets dragged to a local café for a quick coffee, he gets more than he bargained for, or rather, meets more than he bargained for.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SpeckledCoffeeCups](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpeckledCoffeeCups/gifts).



> I really hope you enjoy this, I had fun writing it!

“Three coffees since 8:00 and it is now...10:30. Whis is that, a coffee an hour?”

Alex turned to give John a tired glare. The dark bags under his eyes seemed to have doubled in...bags between the day before and that morning. He squinted accusingly at his friend and John sighed. He could feel a rant coming on. 

“It’s finals John!  _ FINALS! _ I need to  _ STUDY- _ ”

“Please stop yelling.”

“-and stay  _ AWAKE  _ or  _ I’ll FAIL! DO YOU WANT ME TO FAIL JOHN!? _ ”

“I hate you.”

Alex snorted, and heaved his backpack higher on his shoulders. 

“Too bad. Now come on.”

“It’s between classes. Everyone and their dogs will be getting coffee.” 

If there was one thing that needed to be understood on university campuses, it was that between classes were the busiest times of the day. But Alexander only grinned, giving John a sly look. 

“I know a place.”

* * *

 

The “place” was a small café just outside of campus. It was a bit of a walk but worth it, as there was no line and the only people who were present were a few elderly people reading books at small tables. 

Hamilton, being Hamilton, slammed the door open, strutting into the place like he owned it. John followed behind, hands in his pockets, looking around at the small coffeeshop. 

The lights weren’t dim, per say, but they weren’t bright and the ambience was cozy. Soft jazz music played from speakers, and not the crappy elevator jazz either. This was all smooth guitars and piano, and it fit the place like a glove. 

“Hey Burr!” Alex shouted suddenly, and John couldn’t help but smirk at the annoyed glares from the other patrons. 

Behind the counter, a young man looked in their direction, his fitted customer service smile falling immediately at the sight of Alex. 

“Hamilton.” 

They neared the counter where the man was now leaning, looking exponentially more tired than he had been about five seconds ago (Alex seemed to have that effect on people). John was able to get a good look at him and...

_ Oh _

Deep brown eyes twinkled as they passed from Hamilton to John and he couldn’t help but look down at his shoes as the barista’s grimace turned up into a small smile.

Had it just gotten hotter in this place, or was it just that guy? 

“Just your regular then, Hamilton?” he asked, his eyes staying on John for a moment before moving back to Alex.

“You know me so well, Burr.” 

John didn’t miss how the man’s eyes flickered to him as he wrote Alexander’s name on the cup. 

“Who’s your friend, Hamilton?”

“Oh.” Alex turned to introduce him, but John elbowed his way forward a step.

“Lohn Jaurens-  _ JOHN! _ John, my name is John.”  _ breath in, _ “John Laurens.”

And with a quick wink and a flash of a smile, he’d saved it.

_ mostly _

“ _ Riiiight _ .” Alex sent John a strange look, before passing his money to the barista, “John, this is Burr.”

“ _ Aaron _ Burr.” the man, Aaron, completed, gently glaring at Alex from beneath long lashes. “Good to meet you, John Laurens. What can I get you?”

John blinked stupidly.

“Uhhh, what?”

“Are you planning on ordering something?” both Burr and Alex were staring at him expectantly.

“Oh!” he mentally kicked himself, and looked up at the menus, “I, uh, see you have coffee. I’ll have a coffee.”

Alexander groaned, and Aaron just laughed softly.

“Any particular kind of coffee?”

“Ummmm,” his mind was a blank, so jumbled that he couldn’t focus on the words on the menus, “surprise me?”

Aaron laughed outright this time and John found himself grinning. He liked that laugh, it made him want to laugh too. Alexander for his part, rolled his eyes.

“Sorry Burr, John here doesn’t understand the fine art that is choosing a coffee.”

“Hey, if it means not having another person to lecture me on the benefits of having five shots of espresso rather than any normal person’s one, I’m fine with it.”

Both Aaron and John laughed at this, while Alex muttered  _ heathens  _ under his breath. 

Laurens eyes wandered back to Burr. God, how had Hamilton found someone this attractive and never told anyone? 

Fingers were suddenly snapping in front of his face and he blinked. Burr was looking at him with a look of amusement and Alex was looking at him with concern.

“Your coffee, Laurens. Geez, what's the matter with you!?”

Sheepishly smiling at Aaron, he took his coffee from Alex. 

“Sorry, kinda zoned out.”

“No problem.” Aaron laughed gently before going back to work.

There was only one word going through John’s head.

_ Wow. _

* * *

 

“Why did you drag me here?” Alex asked, staring, for once, sullenly at the coffee in front of him, “You know Eliza’s been asking me to watch my caffeine intake.”

It was a week later that John decided to return to the café to see Aaron. He dragged Alex along for moral support, as he knew Burr better. Plus it wouldn’t look as suspicious if Hamilton was with him. 

“I just thought I would be nice to grab, I don’t know, something to eat.”

Even as John said it, he wasn’t fully paying attention to his friend across from him. His eyes, instead, were trained on a certain barista, laughing at something a co-worker had said. John sighed; Burr’s real smile was so much nicer than his customer service one.

“If you wanted food, we can just order pizza. This place doesn’t exactly do dinners.”

When he didn’t answer, Alex looked up from his coffee. John wasn’t even looking at him, but rather, over his shoulder. Turning slowly, he followed his line of sight and, when his eyes met the laughing form of Aaron Burr, his smile became smug.

“Ohh, I see. You’ve got the hots for Burr.”

Laurens’ eyes immediately snapped to Hamilton, glaring even as his face became a soft pink.

“I don’t have the hots for him.” he said.

“Have you asked him out yet?”

John scowled into his coffee.

“Seriously!?” Alex asked, “Wow John, I never knew you to be shy.”

“I’m not shy! It’s called decorum, Alex. I barely even know him!”

“Well then, talk to him.”

This earned him a loud groan.

“But that involved, eurgh, talking.”

“Come on, Laurens, you gotta chase it if you want it,” he turned around to look at Aaron, “Burr’s not easy to win over. Took me an entire year for him to like me.”

“He likes you?” John laughed as Alex glared, “Okay okay, if I go talk to him, will you drop it?”

“No.”

“...fine.”

Getting up from his seat, John wandered casually over to the counter, leaning against it. Aaron, who was busy cleaning one of the machines, turned with a smile.

“Hey John, what can I get you?”

Once again, Laures was caught off guard. It wasn’t his fault that Aaron was so attractive and that his toned muscles peeked out from his rolled up dress shirt. 

“What’s your favourite food here?” he asked, floundering for something to say.

But Aaron didn’t seem to notice his awkward fidgeting and turned to the food trays. 

“Personally, I like the donuts. I mean they aren’t for everyone-”

“If you like them, I’m sure they’re perfect!” he blurted out, but quickly covered his mouth as his face grew hot. 

Aaron broke out into loud laughter and Laurens turned to Alex in a panic. His friend had his head in his hands, shaking it in shame.

“I’ll take one of the donuts.” John said, pulling out his money and staring down at his shoes again.

Laughter dying down, Aaron took the money and passed the pastry to him, a smile on his lips. He leaned over the counter, closer to John than before.

“You’re sweet, John. That’s not an easy task when you spend all your time around Hamilton.”

“Hey!” the aforementioned Hamilton shouted from across the café and John had to crack a smile.

How was it that this man he barely knew made him feel so comfortable?

_ I think,  _ he thought to himself,  _ I really like you, Aaron Burr. _

* * *

 

For nearly two week John returned to the café, spending all his money on coffees and donuts just for a chance to see Aaron. And every time, Burr would grace him with one of those small smiles and he just knew he’d have to return the next day to see it again.

Burr’s co-workers must have suspected, because every time he came in, one of the other baristas would nudge Aaron and point, sending John a knowing and slightly intimidating smile. The exchanges between them all went about the same.

“Hey John, what can I get you?”

“Coffee?” he’d answer hesitantly, which made Aaron laugh.

“Any particular kind of coffee today?”

“Surprise me.”

And he always did, one delicious coffee after another. He’d tell John the names which he promptly forgot because he was too busy staring at how his hands gestured wildly as he spoke. 

Aaron Burr was wonderful.

* * *

 

Then one saturday afternoon, all John’s flirting, and awkward stuttering finally paid off when he walked in front of the café that afternoon.

Peering through the window, John’s eyes searched for Aaron. He could see one of the baristas behind the till and some other guy making coffee, but no Burr. His lips quirked into a scowl and he squinted. Maybe Burr was in the back.

“You’re not very subtle are you?”

John jumped about a foot in the air, the sudden voice behind him startling him. He spun around, coming face to face with a smug looking Aaron Burr.

He wasn’t in his normal uniform, and the casualness of the outfit threw John for a loop. It was unfairly attractive.

“Saturdays are my day off,” he said, not hiding his grin, “I thought you would have known that with how much time you spend around here.”

“I-that’s not...I mean I’m not-”

John’s stuttering was cut off by Burr’s soft laughter, real laughter, and all he could do was huff in response, not exactly happy about being made fun of but getting Burr to laugh seemed like a victory all it’s own.

Once Aaron had calmed down somewhat, he smiled slightly at John, before making his way past him. 

“Well, I just came to get my cheque. I’ll see you later, John.”

Oh fuck, wait, he couldn’t just let him go! Not now after he’d made a fool out of himself! Aaron had to know at this point, so what was the point in hiding it? Do it, do it, do it, do-

“WAIT!” Laurens shouted, probably a bit louder than he’d meant to, as it was Aaron’s turn to jump about a foot in the air, “Oh, sorry, I just-”

“No, it’s alright. What is it?”

And there he was, Aaron Burr, waiting patiently for him to speak, watching him with a sort of relaxed interest and suddenly John couldn’t find his voice. He was just so perfect, how could John even compare?

But, awkwardly running a hand through his hair, and staring down at his shoes, he said;

“I was...well, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab, i don’t know, a coffee or something sometime. It’s totally chill if you don’t, I get it, really. But I thought I’d ask, though I’m kind of regretting it about now because you’re not answering and being really quiet and oh god, this is awkward, sorry I can just go, just forget everything I said, it’s not important, I-”

He was immediately cut off by the warm and solid feeling of a hand on his arm. Sometime during his rant, Aaron had moved closer and was now standing right in front of him. John tapered off, once again losing his voice. 

And then Burr said something that sent him reeling.

“I’d love to go out with you, John.”

“Whu-really!?” his heart felt full to bursting and he couldn’t stop the grin which exploded onto his face, “Really!?”

“Yeah, really.” Aaron was laughing softly now, “When are you free?”

“Right now! I’m free right now!” Laurens exclaimed, but soon remembered himself, “I mean, if you have plans for the day, I don’t-”

“I don’t have any plans.” Aaron replied, “I do still need to grab my cheque, but then we can go.”

“Okay, I’ll wait here then.”

“Okay.”

Aaron smiled at him once more, before turning back to go into the café. When he reached the door, he turned back, a thoughtful look on his face.

“You know what? I’m kinda sick of coffee.”

“We could do lunch.”

“Yeah, yeah let’s do lunch.”

“Alright.”

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> John is an entire dork in this and I love it! :D


End file.
